Previews

Battlefield 2 Modern Combat

War: What is it good for? How about an innovative console version of the smash hit PC multiplayer FPS?

Spiffy:

Hot-swapping is money; plenty of single-player beefiness; up to 24 players online.

Iffy:

Hopefully, it will offer more multiplayer game types; graphically meh so far.

If you own one of those newfangled PCs, you know about EA's Battlefield series. It's one of the best multiplayer FPSs out there, boy howdy. The franchise is finally making its way to consoles, and as such is adapting in new and exciting ways to appeal to those people who like their gaming on their television sets.

Army of One

Modern Combat, unlike its Windows-based brethren, features a robust single-player campaign mode. It chronicles a present-day conflict going on in Kazakhstan -- better known as home country of Ali G's alter-ego, Borat. You'll see action from both sides of the battle, and get stuck in the middle of plenty of drama. May I just thank the powers that be that it isn't another WW II game?

So, a single-player mode -- that's pretty spiffy, right? You ain't seen nothing yet. Modern Combat features the ability to instantly switch your control from one character to another. To do this, you point your reticule at a teammate and hit a button. You then watch a bullet-time-esque sequence rocketing towards your new trooper, and are then battling from their position. Such an amazing mechanic needs a sexy name, so EA is calling this "hot-swapping."

Mission objectives have been designed with this feature in mind. For example, you'll have to hot-swap up to a sniper at an elevated position to clear the areas for reinforcements to arrive. Another instance we saw was hot-swapping to a chopper gunner to provide cover fire. Basically, if you can see an ally, you can become them in a matter of moments. Some goals require specific swaps, but mostly it's up to you how to use the soldiers at your disposal.

The A.I. of your allies is smartly tuned to get into the best position for you to swap into. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like you'll be able to hot-swap into the body of a curvy female -- y'know, just to um, see what it's like to have a pair of nevermind.

The single-player campaign also features some RPG elements. There's a combo bar that raises as you kick ass, and will reward you with real-time upgrades or stat boosts. As far as I'm concerned, FPS games need to do these types of things more. It keeps things interesting, and allows for a ramp-up in difficulty in later levels.